Page 5 of Rival to the Billionaire

I founded our flourishing publishing company almost a decade ago with my brothers. My family. Hare & Holeton is my home.

I'm here to protect its legacy, to win.

And now she knows it. For better or worse.

* * *

JENNY

"He's insufferable," I growl once Carmina and I are alone. "And arrogant. And pretentious. And I hope his dick falls off."

And if anyone else heard me say that, I'd be further shunned.

Ryder Anderson—despite all his many faults—is one of the most popular, powerful men in the greater Seattle area. Not to mention in our publishing company.

A billionaire who helped his family co-found Hare & Holeton, he's never short of cash or friends. Friends I hope aren't lurking outside of the women's restrooms fifty feet away from the ballroom where the Save the Seagulls charity event is still in full force.

Perched against the marble pedestal of the hand dryer inside that same restroom, I slump my shoulders and let out a messy breath. I shouldn't be worrying about Julian or Ryder right now. But I am, along with a whole slew of other things I shouldn't be thinking about.

Carmina laughs, shaking her head. "I don't know if I've seen a man…um…inspire such an intense reaction in you. It’s clear Ryder makes you…hot.”

"Don't be a prig, Carmina. He makes me…angry. And that's it. That's all it is." I lean my head against the marble wall. I stare at the giant floral-print wallpaper in front of me, the buzzing of the hand dryer competing with my thoughts. "The truth is, I don't have time to be angry. I've got to figure out how to get him to stop trying to kick-stomp our book tech division to death."

Carmina approaches, slowly, tapping her stiletto-clad foot on the marble floor. "You worked for Derek Anderson, the frigging CEO, chica. Wouldn't Derek say something about the app launch if he had concerns?"

I snort. "Derek wants to support his brother. They're super close. I'm sure he wants to have his back.” I sigh, then push off the dryer and finger-comb my upswept hair. "I'm just so done with him. He's taken over the entire book tech division. He's the Chief Technology Officer, but he's more like a toddler than a tycoon. Always down for a tantrum, when he doesn't get his way."

"But… Okay, the two of you can't always be at each other's throats. Don't the Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer have to work closely together to promote company growth?"

"The CIO and CTO are supposed to work together to grow the company." My face is serious when I turn to Carmina. "But only one of us wants to make our book publishing company look like idiots in the tech industry." I grab my purse. "Because that's what's going on here. All he cares about is getting attention."

Carmina's slender eyebrows furrow. "And you had no idea Ryder was presenting the app at the Next-in-Tech conference?"

"No. I thought we’d ruled it out. Determined launching the app in the same year as our Initial Public Offering would be a risk."

"Is it? For us, I mean?"

"I don't know. We'll have to discuss it first thing on Monday. But we definitely won't get the kind of PR from our peers in Silicon Valley if we launch something like this now. We're supposed to wait until we're sure. Our IPO is not all that far away, you know, Carmina."

Carmina looks up, her full lips pursing. "I know. And I agree, more than you think I do. But I also know you, Jen. You and your brain are already thinking about a hundred ways things can go wrong right now, correct?"

"A thousand…but I see your point." I exhale. "You don't understand. New developments of this magnitude tend to make investors nervous when they're thinking about buying shares.”

And no one gets more nervous than Devin Baxter, the incoming CEO at Spencer, one of the most renowned local Seattle business investment firms. And his billionaire father, Henry Baxter, the founder and chairman of Baxter Inc., one of our biggest investors.

"And you don't want to do something that would unnecessarily ruffle feathers."

"Precisely." I inhale another whiff of the fragranced air. I run my hands over my silk dress, smoothing the wrinkles out of it. "So, we need to decide if pushing forward with the integration of our tech and publishing software initiatives is worth the potential PR disaster if the app turns out to be a dud."

Carmina nods, thinking. "Shit. And if it does turn out to be a dud, you'll probably get passed up for the chance to co-chair on the board, right?"

I meet Carmina's eyes without nodding.

Yes. That thought occurs to me every time I think about the app.

Ryder proposing the launch of the app, being so off-the-cuff, is so completely unacceptable. He’s clearly not thinking about the consequences. That's the kind of behavior that gets us sued, or worse. That makes the investors and shareholders uneasy.

The kind of behavior that ruins careers. Namely, mine.

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